


Remember

by lastoneleft



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: M/M, Mild Angst with a happy ending, honestly they're just dumb, they're so in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-12
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2019-03-17 08:46:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13655541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lastoneleft/pseuds/lastoneleft
Summary: It only takes 50 years for Gray and Natsu to admit their feelings.





	Remember

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RainTeaandDragons](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainTeaandDragons/gifts).



“Remember,” Natsu says with a small smile on his face, “when that mage turned us into old men?”

Gray shakes his head and takes a long pull off his beer. “I thought we were going to die.”

Natsu nods. “Would’ve, if Lucy didn't show up and kick his ass.”

They sit in comfortable silence for a while, admiring the view from the roof of the guild hall, nothing but small gusts of breeze and the occasional snore from Happy to stir the silence.

Natsu takes a few mouthfuls from his can of cider. “Did you mean it?” he asks, just as the sun slips over the horizon.

Gray stiffens. “...Mean what? I don't remember much from that week. Just that I thought that spell was permanent.” Gray picks at the label of his beer bottle. “Slowly aging back to 20 all in one day was a weird process, huh? You'd think 50 years would come off faster.”

Natsu almost lets him get away with the subject change, same as every other time he’s broached this topic and had Gray brush it off. A peek at Gray in his peripheral changes his mind.

“I remember everything.” Natsu watches Gray's fingers tighten around his bottle. “Porlyusica said, from what she's read in her spell books, that the experience is more or less the same for everyone.”

“Did she?” Gray deadpans.

Natsu nods. “You were still unconscious when she explained. Guess even when we're old, I'm still tougher.” Natsu grins and Gray fights off a smile, still unable to look up from his drink.

Gray scoffs and shoves at Natsu’s shoulder. His hand rests there a second longer than it has to. When Natsu glances at it, Gray snatches it away.

“But I remember an entire life I hadn't lived through. My body went through the motions but I didn't...  _ feel _ anything in those memories. I didn't even feel anything watching them. It was like watching a zombie on autopilot.” Natsu turns to Gray. “You remember too, don't you?”

Gray shrugs. “Sorry. Can't say that I do.”

“Gray,” Natsu says, voice strained. Gray looks up at him, eyes going wide when he sees how shiny Natsu's are. “Don't lie to me. I thought we were better than that.”

Gray averts his gaze. “Never would have pegged you as a weepy drunk.”

_ “Gray.” _

Gray shifts in his seat. “Yeah,” he answers, quiet enough that Natsu almost doesn't hear. “I remember.”

Natsu nods again. He takes a moment to calm himself, to suck in a couple deep, shaky lungfuls of air. “So, um. That thing you said. About me.” Natsu pushes forward slowly, whether it's because asking is difficult, or he's scared too much all at once will scare Gray off, Gray isn't sure. Both, probably. “Did you mean it?”

Gray's jaw clenches. “I don't know what you're talking about. I said a lot of things that week.” He sets his beer down a little harder than necessary and crosses his arms over his chest. “If it was that thing I said about it being your fault, I already told you that I didn't.”

“Why can't you be straight with me?” Natsu asks, frustration putting an edge to his words. “We thought our lives were all but over. We thought we lost everything we had ahead of us-”

“I know what we thought!” Gray snaps back.

“Then why can't you live your life the way you wanted to then? The way you said you would have?” Natsu pushes even though he knows he shouldn't. He's treading dangerously, demanding answers like this.

“Why can't you mind your own business?” Gray pushes up from his chair.

“Hey!” Natsu jumps up after him, hand wrapping around Gray's wrist before he can stop himself. “It's been a year! You can't just- Just say what you said and give me no explanation!”

Gray scowls, a growl of frustration tears from his throat. “I didn't say anyth-”

“I told you not to lie to me!” Natsu all but yells.

Happy starts awake. “Natsu?”

Gray tries to tug his wrist back, but Natsu's grip tightens. “Happy’s awake. We should talk about this later.”

“You can't keep running away from-” Natsu grits his teeth. “Happy?” The exceed tilts his head. “I'll explain everything later. I promise. Can you give us some privacy, please?”

Happy looks back and forth between them before giving a single nod and flying off.

“Will you let go?” Gray says evenly, words slow and steady. Natsu recognizes that tone. The calm before the storm.

“Will you answer me?” Natsu shoots back.

Gray's expression is painfully blank. It makes Natsu want to put his fist into Gray's face. “Ask me directly and I might. I'm not the only one dancing around this.”

“I'm not-” Natsu lets go of Gray's arm to scrub a hand down his face. “I'm not dancing around this. If I don't ask carefully you close off completely.”

Gray tuts, but doesn't offer any argument. He simply stands, eyes on the ground as Natsu tries again to calm himself enough to speak.

“The day we talked about how long we might have to live, you said-” Natsu chokes on a sob he refuses to let out, biting his lip until he stops trembling. Gray's hands close into fists and he glares at the ground. “You said you loved me,” Natsu says. “When I asked if your life went anything like you wanted it to. You said if you had control, you would have-” Natsu’s voice grows tight and Gray barely holds back a flinch. “You would have went for it. With me.”

Gray lets out a small, bitter chuckle. “And?”

Natsu's jaw drops. “And I've been asking this entire time if you meant it!”

Gray's eyes finally snap up. “What does it matter?” he asks, voice booming and cracking like thunder. “You had nothing to say about it then, why do you care now?”

Natsu gasps, “I didn't say anything because the rest of the team and Gramps walked in right after you told me!” Gray mutters something that sounds suspiciously like  _ bullshit _ and fire rolls along Natsu's tongue. “No, screw you, Gray! You can barely talk about this when it's just me and you. Do you really think we could have discussed this in a room full of people?”

“I thought I only had 10 years left,” Gray spits. “I would have told you anything. Hell, I would have  _ followed _ you anywhere and you couldn't even spare me a few words when they left to tell me you didn't give a shit.”

“Gray,” Natsu says softly. “That's not-”

“Don't do that.” Frost clouds out from Gray's hands, settling over Natsu's skin to hiss off into mist. “Don't pity me.”

“I'm not,” Natsu insists. “I've been trying to tell you-”

“Save it.” Gray steps back. “You felt nothing watching your life play back, right? I felt something.” Gray stubbornly wipes away tears forming at the edges of his eyes. “I felt like shit, watching you pass me by time and again. Watching you choose who to live your life with. Lisanna. Lucy. Sting.”

Natsu's face crumples.  _ “Gray-” _

“And I know I have no right to be upset. I didn't say anything. It took watching you and wanting you for over 50 fucking years for me to say something, and yeah, that's stupid.” Gray's jaw clenches. “But I did. And you didn't even bother to give me an actual rejection. You just left me to feel like a goddamn idiot.”

“Is that what you think of me?” Natsu asks, hands shaking, eyes blazing. “You're my friend. If I didn't feel the same way I would have let you down easy and-”

Gray snorts. “Not acknowledging what I said for a year is letting me down easy?” He shakes his head, staring past Natsu at the door, feet itching to take him through it. “Thanks. I feel much better now.”

“I've been trying to talk to you about it,” Natsu snaps, tears finally slipping down his face. “But you're so- So fucking  _ difficult. _ It's like bleeding a stone trying to get you to talk about your emotions-”

“Look what happened the last time I opened up about them,” Gray snarls.

“That!” Natsu points at him accusingly. “Any time I'd try to bring up what you said, you'd cut me off! This is the first time you've even admitted to saying anything! To remembering your life!  _ Mavis.” _

Gray's mouth sets into a firm line. “Go on, then. Let me down easy, or whatever. Just get it over with so I can move on.”

Natsu huffs out some humorless little chuckle. “You really piss me off sometimes. You either haven't been paying attention or you're just that stubborn.”

Gray glares, but keeps silent, once more looking to the door, fighting the urge to run.

“I feel the same way, you big idiot,” Natsu says, gaze steady on Gray's face, watching for any flash of emotion.

Gray blinks, shaking his head. Something a little too close to hope flickers to life in the back of his mind. “You- What?” Natsu waits. “You… like me?”

“No,” Natsu says. Gray's face falls, his stomach drops. “Shit! No, that came out wrong.”

“I'm leaving.” Gray moves for the door and Natsu yelps out another  _ no _ before grabbing the front of Gray's shirt and yanking him forward.

Natsu's mouth is on Gray's before he can argue. Gray freezes for a moment, until Natsu's lips start to move against his. The desperation behind it steals Gray's breath, and he finally,  _ finally _ kisses Natsu back.

“I love you,” Natsu whispers against him, fingers sliding through Gray's hair. Gray hums, more of a whimper, and kisses him harder.

Natsu's cider can crashes at their feet, splashes alcohol on their toes and they jump apart.

Natsu laughs through his apology, and Gray is stunned into silence watching his smile stretch across his face. Natsu meets Gray’s eyes, cheeks still shiny, lips pink and kiss swollen. Gray shakes his head, and wipes a stray tear from the corner of Natsu's eye. “It's okay.”

Natsu nods. “I really am though.” He grabs Gray's hand. “Sorry. That this took a year... Plus 50.”

Gray laughs, cheeks flushing pink when Natsu's eyes light up at the sound. “Yeah, Natsu.” He pulls Natsu's hand until they're chest to chest. “Me too.”

Natsu kisses him again, and Gray thinks,  _ knows, _ he'd wait another 50 years for Natsu if he had to.


End file.
